


The Turning Point

by ficme



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Destruction of Earth, F/M, Heavy Angst, Pre-Canon, Unhealthy Relationships, i refer to christopher colombus by name but only so he can be torn a part by Hades, mentions of colonialism, no one dies but you might want to, this is not a happy fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 06:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21131822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficme/pseuds/ficme
Summary: This story came to me while discussing ideas with a friend and fellow Hadestown enthusiast for a pre-cannon roleplay we are currently in the planning stages for. I realized that with said friend’s help, I was finally able to answer an unknown that I'vee been struggling with for quite some time: What event would have been drastic enough to reduce Hades/Persephone's marriage to the shambles we see at the start of Hadestown?This fic will be told in two parts/chapters.Part one is just direct quotes from our back and forth exchange over DM that lead to my finalization of this concept. It discusses how/why disagreements would begin between the two gods. It provides some context to the actual story part of this work, but is not necessary to read. It's just for fun, so y’all can get a glimpse into what turned out to be a cool writing process.Part two is the actual ficlet I wrote, which I have edited into a stand alone fic. It tells the story of exact event that drove the final nail into the coffin of Hades/Persephone’s relationship, the event that made Persephone decided that it was time to start sleeping in a separate bed, away from the man she once loved more than anything but can now hardly stand to look at.





	1. A private chat conversation between two buds

**Author's Note:**

> In part one, V refers to Vanessa (That’s me!) and F refers to my friend Fraser. He does not have an AO3 account, but asked to be credited by his tumblr, @tiredqueerfather.

**V**: How do you think their first argument started?  That’s something I want to know, but don’t have a clear idea about at all...

**F**: I’ve been trying to think of something for that as well. In my head their first real blowout occurs about 50-60 years before this? Hades starts becoming more and more fascinated with the industrialisation of the world above which may definitely not be something Persephone is overly fond of for obvious reasons. But I feel like there needs to be a definitive event to plant that seed of suspicion that she won’t come home?

**V**: Maybe she leaves one Spring without saying goodbye?

He was up late one night working on a prototype electric grid for their estate, and was so consumed by this new and promising invention by the mortals that he loses track of just how close it is to the beginning of spring, and thus oversleeps and wakes up to her empty side of the bed?

**F**: Oh shit that works super well.

**V**: I just cannot  _ fathom _ how Hades would not be up in her business doting on her 24/7.  But maybe that’s just the “Amber Gay for Amber Gray” inside me screaming...

**F**:  _ God me too.  _ But yes! I feel like it starts as something that he’s using because he is just so desperate to impress her but then shit goes sideways.

**V**:  Persephone, watching as her husband tinkers with various mortal-made electronics: You know they have to murder a lot of nature to make room for these inventions, right?

Hades: But you can simply regrow them elsewhere, right?

Persephone: That’s besides the point. What if one day there isn’t any earth left to grow upon?

Hades: You’ve seemed to deal with the lack of plant life down here fairly well...

The more Hades improves on what the mortals are inventing, the more his innovation spreads to the earth above. He is quickening the pace of industrialization and doesn’t even realize it.

Meanwhile Seph is like, “Come on man, you have no idea how your actions impact the world around/above you!”

**F**: Yessss, it starts as something relatively innocuous but then picks up steam as the years go by and they both further entrench themselves in their ideas until things just completely explode.

**V**: Oh man, I think I finally found the breaking point that would cause her to stop sharing their bed! You ready for angst? You ready for heartbreak?

**F**:  ** _Hurt me_ ** ** ahsjsgsjfg**


	2. The Turning Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Full disclosure: This is not a happy fic.
> 
> This story is set during pre-canon Hadestown, and is my answer to how Hades and Persephone started fighting in the first place.
> 
> This story will also fill in some other major unknown plot-points from their past, such how they ended up in the American south, and why Persephone's mother Demeter is not mentioned at all during the show.
> 
> Please read the notes before/after the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This fic depicts a relationship as it turns unhealthy, and will not give you the warm and fluffy feelings that you seek.
> 
> I do not claim that any of this pre-canon content informed the show in any canonical way, it was merely a thought exercise that turned into something much more.
> 
> Please let me know if I need to include any additional tags, I did my best but this story covers a lot of different and potentially upsetting concepts.
> 
> Lastly, because this story refers to Hades and Persephone coming to america in the 17th century, there are mentions of colonialism and the treatment of native americans that I did my best to portray in a delicate manner so as not to force anyone to relive the horrors of their ancestors, but I am not native american, and am therefore aware that I am fallible and will likely need to revisit my work to better portray certain aspects if the need arises. I will say, I am not at all trying to glorify colonialism, and do my best to condemn it and have the european settlers not be depicted as sympathetic.

Hades finally decided to pay the upperworld a visit again one spring, not because Persephone constantly nagged him about how out of touch he had become with the world of the living ( _ her  _ world, she reminded him), but because he had a small measure of business to attend to that actually required him setting foot on the ground above him. He escorted his wife arm-in-arm to the surface to see her off as he has done each year prior since the very beginning of their fated biannual arrangement, nothing out of the ordinary in that regard. Things had however been getting a bit tense lately between the two, so their previously heartbreaking and passionate drawn-out goodbyes had now morphed into something fast and to the point: a simple chaste kiss on the mouth, and a mutual “See you next Fall,  _ Lover. _ ” This was a newer form of normal, but normal nonetheless.

What had changed, was that this year, Hades did not immediately return the underworld once this exchange concluded, and instead waited for his wife to disappear into the nearby town she called home during her months without him, before secretly venturing into town after her. He supposed that he could have made this outing well before now, but some small part of him had always refused to defy Demeter in that way, and that lingering deference barred him from actually doing so. But this year he had an important mission that successfully drove him out into the sunlight, the exciting possibilities promised by successfully seeing out his new vision soothing his nerves and giving him the resolve needed to take those first steps. He really had no reason to be weary after all, he and his wife were now an ocean away from the in-laws, residing in a relatively new territory dubbed “America” by the mortals, and he was certain a little outdoor time wouldn’t hurt anyone as long as he made sure his stay was brief.

Two major factors had been involved in Hades’ and Persephone’s decision to pack up and move to this new land near its second beginning. Firstly, as the mortals’ understanding of the world grew with each new discovery, piety among the greeks had taken a dive, and their previous home of Mount Olympus began to crumble as the worship and offerings to the pantheon grew more and more scarce. This meant that the gods were no longer as powerful as they had once been at the height of the old greek empire, and many beings that he had once known as powerful friends were now a mere reflection of their former selves. This shift in power had hit Demeter as well, and though there will always be mortals who rely on worshiping the harvest each year, it was no longer solely in her name as she had required, and there was no feasible way for her to keep tabs on her daughter and son-in-law at all times, especially this far from the place they had once called home. It had actually been Persephone’s decision to move, and Hades remembered just how speechless he was when she first suggested it to him. Persephone’s love for her mother had always rivaled the love she had for her husband, but as her mother’s power dwindled with each passing harvest, Persephone and Demeter both found that the sorrow they felt for her present state was only making their limited time together depressing instead of brimming with the joy it once held. Demeter finally accepted that Persephone was mature enough to spend the warmer months on her own, and an unspoken agreement was made between the two that Demeter would sacrifice the time she spent with her daughter, the person whom she loved beyond quantifiable measure, if it meant that they each could still cling to the fonder memories of their happier times together (and avoid having them permanently rewritten by sadness). With her mother’s blessing, Persephone left the greek world behind her, heart heavy and conscience clear. She had still made an effort to visit her mother once a decade to check in on her, but stopped after she returned home one Spring day to find that Demeter could no longer remember her name. Hades remembered that night as if it had happened only yesterday, his wife surprising him by rushing into his office, mere days after their annual goodbyes. He remembers foolishly joking at her presence (“Couldn’t get enough of me, eh?”) before he realized that she had been crying, and his heart shattered around them as he rushed to her side, arms cradling her as she broke down into sobs once more. He held her through the night, and did his best to comfort her, whispering reassurances that he would always remember her and rejoice when she returned home, but Persephone could not bring herself to return to the mortal realm that year. Spring did not bless the world for the longest time in human memory, and Hades recalled having an especially high shade count to manage over those long twelve months. Eventually Persephone stopped speaking of her mother entirely, and Hades didn’t dare bring her up either, not ever wanting to see his wife in that much pain again. So why is it that the two of them managed to fare so well when the other gods had long been abandoned? The answer was quite simple: They were Life and Death itself, and mortals would always worship them with fervor, regardless of the names they used.

The second factor that actually made them choose America as their new stomping grounds were the mortals themselves. With their ever advancing seafaring capabilities, the humans that now loosely united under the title “European” set about the world in search of gold and glory, while leaving death and destruction in their wake. The mortals that had inhabited the land before it was forcibly rechristened “America” had their own gods to worship, and Hades was more than happy to let their souls find the rest granted to them by their own systems of belief. He was aware that gods beyond the pantheon existed, and though he did not possess the means to see or speak with them, he was well aware that he was a stranger in this land and worked hard to treat this new unknown with all the respect he could offer. The “European” mortals unfortunately did not share this mindset, and as they attempted to lay claim to this so called “new world”, citing “divine right” as an acceptable reason to commit atrocities that would make even Zeus weep, and an ever increasing number of bodies began to stack up, and enough souls needed access to his kingdom to find eternal rest that he made the executive decision to build a new access point to the underworld to better serve their growing needs. Persephone had accompanied him to the build site despite it being Fall (what world would they be living in if he should walk the earth’s surface while she remained below?) and became absolutely enamored with the new forms of fauna and foliage that she was met with. She had brought an especially mild winter to the area that year, as Hades didn’t have the heart to stop her multiple forrays up top for the sake of enthusiastic exploration. His wife hadn’t been this excited about anything in a long time, and he found the joy she would bring upon her return to be infectious. Her true status as a goddess was unknown here, and she delighted in telling Hades of the new friends she was making, and the new plants she had helped them grow. While she distressed over the damage her own so called people were doing to the locals and the environment (building a settlement requires a massive amount of deforestation), she elated in the presence of the mortals that called this area home first. She was able to learn so much from them, and found their deep respect for the earth invigorating, where her people had been really letting her down. She loved these new mortals with all her heart, and wept for them when they were inevitably mistreated by the ones she had once considered herself an honorary part of. Without ever making her true form known or asking for their worship, Persephone made a silent pact to protect the original people of this land in every way she could. Though she made sure to assist in guiding them through her own version of a plentiful harvest each year while others would starve, she would later lament that she could never do enough to counteract the terrible actions of the mortals from home. This new dynamic of competing mortals meant that this landscape would change a lot over the next few centuries, settlements growing into towns, towns into cities, and cities into industrial wastelands. But still, Persephone remained in what was now her new home, ever hoping that the world would find reason and deserve to know her again. She would never forgive her people for ruining what was once such a beautiful and wild landscape, pushing the ones who actually treated it with kindness back into an ever dwindling territory. Hades had also taken to judging his souls based on how poorly they wasted the gift that should have meant a mutually satisfying and diverse partnership between the old and the new, and looks back fondly on his memories of the day an especially problematic soul came to him for judgment, dubbed Christopher Columbus during his time on earth, and the punishment he had administered personally. He had torn the shade to pieces by hand, feeding half of the parts to Cerberus, and scattering the rest amongst the truly terrifying monsters that inhabited Tartarus. This shade would spend the rest of eternity searching for completion that would not come, and would never know peace.

That had been a long time ago, and Hades now found himself more preoccupied with the technological advancements the upperworld was providing for him each day. He found that by adapting his kingdom below to the world above, he was able to streamline his kingdom like never before. He had long since stopped referring to his domain as the underworld or even hell, adopting a new name that reflected it’s striking similarities to the cities above:  _ Hadestown _ . He had been fascinated by the mortal’s means of harnessing electricity in a form that would have never occurred to his brother, and much to his wife’s dismay, Hadestown now glowed brighter with its electric lighting than the evening stars he so rarely had the chance to see. These were the innovations that finally brought him out from down below, and one particular invention held his focus like none before: the newfangled concept of the locomotive. It was a truly inspired invention by the mortals, and he just knew that it was the perfect solution to getting a large amount of souls safely to his domain without having to rely on Hermes or Charon escorting them individually or in small groups. It was all about organization and efficiency, you see, and the ever growing human population required a new solution, and this was it, he was sure of it.

Hades made it into town without incident, and took care to avoid running into his wife, lest he have to ruin what he hoped would be a pleasant surprise. He was going to build a train to Hadestown, and he knew just how to do it. He sought out a local craftsman, and enlisted his help in finding a reasonably sized team of strong, capable men. When he was satisfied that this portion of his plan had been met, he explained that he needed them to build new tracks for a train line that would stretch from here to a cave a little ways off, reassuring them that he already had a team of dedicated workers that would take care of the underground portion of the tracks. If the men had any concerns about the unusual nature of this request, they quickly set them aside, as each man was offered a hefty sum of gold to make sure they were invested in this project, with the promise of an even more substantial bonus waiting for them if they have it completed by this coming Fall. If he was truly satisfied by their efforts, he would seek them out again with plans for future expansions and more opportunities for wealth. Confident that everyone was on the same page, Hades showed them where exactly he wanted the tracks to run and where the station on this end should sit, and then left them to it. Business now complete, he turned to go, ready to start the same work on his end.

Driven by the promise of wealth beyond what the upper workers could previously comprehend, the team rushed to get started, and though they worked diligently, they still managed to make some rather rushed calculations along the way. Their progress had been perfectly paced up until this very moment, where they only now realize in horror that the start of Fall is only days away, and they have just run out of the wood they specifically gathered from far away to make up the foundations of the train tracks (the businessman who employed them and had called himself Hades had been very clear that the trees used for this project must be felled from an area not visible to the nearby town). They were so close to being done, they had mere feet of track to lay before claiming completion, so they let their desire for wealth inform their next move. Without a second’s hesitation, they decided that a large nearby tree would serve their needs perfectly, despite being a different type of wood, and they cut it away from the earth without celebration. “It’s just one lousy tree,” one of the workers stated, “no one is going to miss one single tree.”

Hades is right on time this fall, and is delighted to find that the workers completed their end of the bargain without his needing to supervise the construction. Locals look on in awe as he rides his immaculate new train into town, wondering where it came from and why it was coming here of all places. Once he is parked at the station, he jumps out, and practically floats into town with the eagerness to surprise his wife in style. He finds her just as she is about to leave her home, and escorts her back to the station arm-in-arm once more. He knows that she has always been a bit resistant to technology, and he can’t wait to tell her how thoughtful he had been when he specifically requested that the station and tracks be built only on the parts of land that held no more plant-life than grass, because he remembered how his wife had mentioned not liking innovation replacing nature. He was being thoughtful about her needs. He was sure that she would notice his efforts took his love for her into account, and that she would be delighted after the initial confusion died down.

He could not have been more wrong in his assumption. As they step onto the brand new platform, the workers are all lined up with big smiles, waiting for the couple’s final approval. Persephone steps back with a gasp, but Hades’ elation at the surprised sound turns to confusion, and then fear, as her eyes glance completely past the train before them, and over to an area where something has gone missing that should certainly not be missing. The very old and very large cyprus tree that had previously dominated the earth was nowhere to be found. His wife dropped his hand as if it burnt her, eyes widening in rage as her voice deepened into an accusatory growl, “Hades. WHAT. DID. YOU.  _ DO? _ ”

When his face showed nothing but confusion, she took a deep breath, and began to yell in earnest. The tree,  _ her  _ tree, the tree that she had planted from a sapling taken from her birthplace when they first arrived here many years ago, was gone. She let her voice dip back into its native tongue, so she could berate her husband without the need of filtering her speech for the mortals within ear shot before continuing. This cyprus was the oldest living thing in the nearby area, despite herself of course, by centuries. It was her one connection to the place she grew up, the one constant that was always waiting for her when she returned each spring in the rapidly changing world above, the one piece of life that these damned mortals hadn’t torn down to make room for the artificial. “Hades,” she switched back to the common tongue, “I  _ loved  _ that tree like a dear, old friend. And now it is gone. Torn down to make way for your  _ stupid fucking TRAIN _ .”

Hades was at a loss as for what to do. He didn’t understand why this was happening. He had made it excruciatingly clear that no nearby foliage should be harmed for the sake of this project, but the awkward looks on the workers’ faces as they avoided making eye contact with him told him everything that he needed to know: his wife was right, these mortals cared for nothing outside of profit and progress, and neither, by mere association with this project, did he. He made one weak attempt to explain himself, “But I specifically told them not to…”

“Stop, Hades just… stop.” his wife begged him, as she lost herself to a fit of sobs that he had once made the promise to never be the cause of. He made a movement to usher his wife onto the train so she could grieve without an audience, but she glared at him and moved away as his hands met her shoulders, and without looking out to the world around them one last time before returning underground for the colder seasons, she made her way onto the train by herself and left him on the platform miserable and alone. Hades looked toward the workers, and noticed that some of them had silent questions about their payout glimmering in their eyes, making the false assumption that he would no longer care about the trivial thing they had done now that his wife was no longer in earshot. They were very, very wrong. Hades gave them a long, terrifying glare that promised he would deal with each and every one of them later, and then he boarded the train after his wife.

  
Persephone continued to cry the whole way home, and refused to let Hades talk to or comfort her. Hell, she wouldn’t even  _ look _ at him. The ride home was long and deafeningly silent, save for the sniffles or hitches in breath that accompanied his wife’s quiet tears. That was the first night in Hadestown where Persephone refused to share their bed, choosing instead to sleep in a guest room on the other side of their estate, as if she couldn’t get far enough away from him. Neither of them had ever felt more alone than they did that night, but even this new distance between them would one day become their new normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking this journey with me, hopefully you walk away still okay and with new ideas about the implications of Hades/Persephone pre-Hadestown.
> 
> Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, but please keep them about the material. Because this is 100% angst without my typical happy ending, I expect to get some shouting comments that read along the lines of "bro why do you hate me, personally" or "fuck you OP", but I need to be able to tell if someone is commenting about something addressed in the story that I need to take action on (like needing something tagged, misrepresenting native american communities at the time, etc.)
> 
> Also, I legit never thought I would be in a position where I'd be sobbing about Demeter, yet there I was, crying as her cruel fate popped into my head and wormed its way into my story.


End file.
